


Wherever You Are

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Community: show_goes_on, Disability, Injury, M/M, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-16
Updated: 2009-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-14 20:10:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/153000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Where are you going?"<br/>"Wherever you are."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wherever You Are

**Author's Note:**

> For the show_goes_on Challenge, with the pairing John/Ronon and the prompt "Where are you going?" "Wherever you are."
> 
> This takes place just after the end of season 4, not canon to season 5 (as I haven’t seen it yet).

John looked up at the familiar tiled ceiling of the infirmary. It was a sight he had spent hours going over, these past two weeks, until he was sure that he had every speck of it memorized. Of course, the layout of the Atlantis infirmary ceiling was a useless bit of information, with no practical application to his life, but it hurt less than contemplating other things.

The number of men on Atlantis – Lorne’s men now – was another bit of information in John’s head that was now useless. The training schedule, the guard rotation, all of the stick moves that Teyla had endeavored to teach him.

Useless.

John wearily lifted his right hand and brushed it over the thick infirmary blanket. He could feel the covered bumps that were his legs, but they, like all of the knowledge swimming in his head, were useless.

Cripples couldn’t be military leaders.

John shoved the thought away, refusing to acknowledge it. He knew that he would have to deal with his injury at some point, but not yet. Right now he still wanted to lie there and beg any deity he could think of that he might wake up from this nightmare. John moved his hand towards his legs again, intending to taunt himself with the lack of sensation. Before he could reach them, though, his hand was caught in a firm grip.

He didn’t need to look to know that it was Ronon, but John looked anyways. Ronon was the only one who John could stand to look at anymore – the only one who he allowed the chance to look properly at _him_.

Ronon didn’t look at him with pity, or with false comfort, or with _ideas_. Ronon simply looked at John with understanding. Ronon was a soldier who had seen what happened to injured comrades. It was something that Teyla, for all her compassion, just could not understand.

On Athos, the old and injured were simply given different tasks within the community. On Sateda, on Earth, on _Atlantis_ , they were taken away – hidden away – from anyone or anything they knew. Teyla still didn’t understand why John was required to leave Atlantis. Rodney and Keller did understand, but they were too full of ideas, of ways to fix him, to ever really look closely enough to see _John_. Only Ronon, and perhaps Sam, truly realized what John was going through. And only Ronon really understood.

o)(o

Four nights later, when John tried to pull himself into his wheelchair and almost fell, Ronon caught his arm, held the chair in place, and waited calmly for John to pull himself into it.

Without a word, Ronon walked beside John as he wheeled down the darkened halls. John was unsurprised to see his belongings – packed up for the trip back on the Daedalus – neatly stowed in his Jumper. He was even less surprised to see Ronon’s things there.

Ronon steadied the wheelchair again as John pulled himself into the pilot seat. The Satedan quickly folded and stowed the chair before slumping into the co-pilot seat. John started the Jumper up and then quickly descended into the Gateroom, Ronon dialing up the gate as he did it.

John glanced at Ronon one last time before directing the Jumper through the shimmering puddle. They didn’t speak – they didn’t need to.

“Last chance. Are you sure you want to come?”

“I’ll follow you – wherever you are, I’ll go.”

Ronon grinned and John, for the first time since the accident, grinned back before accelerating through the wormhole. He wasn’t even positive where Ronon had dialed them to, but it didn’t really matter. John knew where he was going.

Wherever you are.


End file.
